Puppy Love
by Elliot Pole
Summary: It has been two years since Isabella Swan moved to Forks. She has dated Mike Newman and avoided speaking to a creep known as Edward Cullen. And one day she goes into a forest and falls in love with a werewolf. Normal? Not quite. The werewoolf is Leah
1. Prologue

**Puppy Love**

**Prologue**

I had lived in Forks for two years when I met her. The girl of my dreams. In a forest.

Forks, Washington is a rather pluvial city. As you can probably tell by my choice of the word 'pluvial,' I am an intellectual, or at least a word-lover. "Pluvial" means "rainy," by the way, but "rainy" is too low-brow for my tastes.

I moved to Forks around January of my junior year in high school, when my mother, Renee, grew tired of me in Arizona. She also didn't want me to scare off her new boyfriend, Patrick. So she sent me here, where my father, Charlie, lives.

I call my parents by their Christian names. No, the term "Christian name" has nothing to do with being Christian. I have never been to church, and no God-crazy aunt has ever given me a Bible for a Christmas present. Unfortunately, so many people are ignorant of this that I feel I have to explain everything. Not that I mind explaining; I hope to be a teacher one day, after all.

When I came here, a girl called Jessica tried to convince me to be her friend, but she was dumb as a brick, so I brushed her off. Oh, excuse me for using the term "brick." Maybe I should've said "rock." A "brick" is someone that benefits you, and Jessica certainly didn't benefit me.

Forks is a small town. Everyone knows everyone else. Not a soul didn't know Charlie Swan, the police officer and my father.

I eventually became accustomed to Forks, with the help of my first boyfriend, Mike Newman. He's a nice guy, though not much better in intellect than Jessica, though thank goodness he doesn't think about fashion or nail polish or going shopping. I think that's what kept us together for six months, at least.

There was this boy who gave me the creeps in many of my classes. The teacher called him Edward, and I learned from Mike that his surname was Cullen. Mike told me the Cullens had five kids. Two of them graduated from Forks High at the end of my junior year. Three of them stayed on, including Edward.

Edward became involved with a girl in my class named Angela Strottinger. I sometimes would stop Angela in the hall and say, "My commiserations." She looked time I did this. Once she asked what "commiserations" meant. I told her to look it up in the dictionary.

Arguably, Angela was more intelligent than many of the girls at Forks High. I think Edward was only attracted to smart girls, which is probably why he stared at me a lot. But I never spoke to him, and he never spoke to me.

During spring vacation of my junior year, I went to La Push with Mike, and there I met these weird Native American kids. One called himself Jacob Black. He was brawny and tough-looking, not at all my type. Well, at night the Native Americans told stories around a campfire, and I listened, along with Mike.

"Our ancestors," they said, "were able to change themselves into wolves. They had no idea how they did it, but they grew hair and needed to walk on hind legs. It felt as though their spirits were free in those times. Sometimes they returned to human form and mated with squaws who were unable to transform and knew not that their husbands could become like beasts. It was a time of greatness for our kind.

"But in those days," the story had continued, "there were these evil creatures we can only call _the cold ones. _The cold ones drank the blood of humans and had special powers. Sometimes the cold ones turned humans into another carbon copy of themselves, at other times they simply killed them. Our ancestors knew that the cold ones would one day deplete the human race if left unchallenged. So our ancestors fought them. Sometimes they prevailed, and sometimes they lost. However, the fact that we no longer retain the ability to become wolves convinces us that the cold ones are gone. But should they return, her wolfish characters will engulf us once again."

Mike thought it a bunch of baloney, and I agreed at the time. But I know the truth now. And it is the truth I wish to tell. For when I die, and it may be soon, I hope that someone will live on to remember me, Isabella Swan, the girl who loved a female werewolf.


	2. Chapter 1

**Puppy Love**

**Chapter One**

I returned home from college for Christmas vacation in my freshman year. Well, I guess you could say "home" could be either Forks or Phoenix, but I had called the former "home" for the previous forty-seven months, Besides, Renee was too busy that Christmas, helping some of the kindergarteners she taught put on a Chocolate Paradise show. Do not ask me what Chocolate Paradise is; I consider the knowledge so mundane that talking about it isn't pleasant.

On my first day back, Charlie just spent all day watching television. I was reading a book on deforestation, which made me cry. Trees are important to me. I'm not exactly a tree-hugger, but it pains me to think that humans kill them merely because they need _space _or _hamburgers. _If you don't understand how cutting trees down is necessary for a steady burger supply, allow me to explain it to you. Cattle need grass to eat. Humans want cattle for burgers. In order to meet the increasing population, you have to increase the number of cattle. But there's not enough room in some places for the cattle meat demanded. So, in order to meet the supply, trees are burned down so that there is a larger area for cattle to graze.

Those trees could be put to better purpose! Like paper for books. But no. They're burned! It makes me squeamish just thinking about it.

Anyhow, as I was reading the book on deforestation, the doorbell rang. A moment later I heard Charlie call up the stairs, "Bella, Mike's here!"

I ran downstairs, grabbed my jacket from the closet, and went into the kitchen, where Mike was.

"Hello," I said, smiling. Mike was my ex-boyfriend, but we still enjoyed each other's company.

"Care to join me for a ride to La Push?"

"You want to go to the beach?" I asked him, incredulously. "In the advent of _winter?"_

"Pretty much, yeah," said Mike. "Except that I don't know what 'advent' means."

"I'll explain in the car. See ya, Charlie!" I called. I'm not sure he heard me from the living room; he was so intent on the game.

We both got in Mike's truck, and we shared our college experiences. Mike went to Washington State University, while I attended Dartmouth. It was a good thing we weren't dating anymore, since it would tear me to pieces to have a boyfriend so far away for several months. In fact, that's why I broke up with my third boyfriend, Tyler Allen, just before I went away to college. I hoped he wouldn't get jealous of me being with Mike. Not that I expected him to be at La Push, anyway.

Mike parked the truck and we climbed out. He pulled a towel from the trunk.

"Are you crazy?" I asked him. "A towel on a cold day like this?"

"This is a magic towel," Mike said, brandishing it. "It'll make us invisible."

"You're joking, right?"

Mike just laughed.

"You know very well, Mr. Newman, that I don't believe in magic."

"Touche," Mike said.

"What's touché?"

"You calling me 'Mr. Newman'?"

"Well, I don't see what's so funny about you claiming an ordinary towel can do the extraordinary!"

"You know what's extraordinary?"

I shook my head.

"You are," Mike said. He leaned forward and gave me a kiss, full on the lips.

"Mike!" I exclaimed.

"What?"

"We broke up!"

"Doesn't mean we can't get back together again."

"But…a kiss…from out of nowhere, and you with that towel…"

"Bella, a guy can't help it when he's in love."

"You can't really love me, Mike. This is _lust! _It's revolting!"

"I prefer to call it puppy love."

"Well, go get a crush on a real puppy, then," I said, caustically. "Take me home, Mike."

Mike didn't say anything for a moment. But then he seemed to relent. "Okay, Bella, I'll take you home."

We climbed back in his vehicle. He started driving across the beach, toward the road. Then something caught my eye. It looked like a bunch of kids, but they seemed hairier than most people. Maybe it was just a trick of the sun.

"Mike, stop the car."

He didn't stop.

"I said stop!"

The vehicle kept on moving.

"If you don't stop the car now, I'll…"

"You'll what, Bella? There's nothing you can do. Heck, I could take you to Seattle and leave you stranded there."

Was this the sweet Mike I knew, or some phantom in his body? But I didn't believe in phantoms. Perhaps the kind Mike was all a façade. Then a disgusting thought came to me. He was planning to make me to a motel! I would be raped! No, I couldn't let that happen. I pulled my seat belt off, thrust the car door open, and flung myself out.

For a moment or two, Mike's truck did nothing, But then it turned around, coming back toward me. I was afraid of being forced back in there.

Three of the kids I had noticed on the beach appeared. They _were _hairier than most people. And they looked bigger, too. They stood in front of me. I was still sprawled on the ground.

Mike's truck stopped. One of the hairy boys went over to the truck and pulled off the side mirror next to the driver's door. It wasn't until later that I realized no human I had ever heard of, except maybe Samson, had the strength to do that.

Mike rolled down the window and shouted at him. While this was going on, one of the other boys went around to the opposite side and did something to the bottom of the car—I didn't catch what; I only saw him bend down. He went further back and did something else.

The boy Mike was shouting at smiled. "Well, thanks for the yelling," the boy said. "I don't get enough of that."

The other boy who had snuck around to the other side of Mike's truck returned, without Mike's noticing.

"I'll sue you!" Mike shouted at the boy who had pulled off his side mirror. Then he apparently decided that running over the boys wouldn't harm his conscience. He revved up his engine and intended to go forward, but nothing happened.

"Hey, doofus!" one of the boys said. "I think you're suffering from a _puncture!"_

All three boys guffawed at that. Mike got out of his truck. "Come on, Bella. Let's leave these goons," he said.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," I said.

"Bella, I'm sorry. I was a jerk. Now will you come with me?"

"If I fell for that, I'd be brainless, Mike. I think the fact that I attend Dartmouth should tell you that I'm smarter than that."

"Madam," said one of the hairy boys, bowing. "If you'll please to allow us to take you away from this creep, we will be sure you arrive home safely."

'Bella, don't listen to him! He just tore off my window, and one of them punctured my tires…they're fiends, Bella!"

"Take me away," I said to the boy.

"Okay. You'll have to climb on my back, though."

I was happy to oblige. If an alligator had come and told me that the only way to escape Mike was to jump in its mouth, I would have done so. As the boy turned around, I grabbed my arms around his shoulders, and put my legs against his sides. Then he started running, faster than I had ever known anyone to run before. But not, I knew, faster than a vehicle could go.

"What if he has a spare tire?" I asked the boy.

"Oh, don't worry about that. Embry punctured two of that bastard's tires, and he only had one spare. He won't be driving anytime soon."

That comforted me. But now I was with three boys, the nature of whom I did not know. Besides, Mike had always seemed so nice, and look what a creep he turned out to be. Who's to say I didn't just escape Charybdis, only to fall into Scylla's claws?


	3. Chapter 2

**Puppy Love**

**Chapter Two**

Still carrying me, the boy entered the forest. At last I thought to ask, "Who are you?"

"Jacob Black," the boy said.

"You are? Didn't we meet..?"

"Two years ago, yes."

"How can you run so fast?"

A pause. Then, "I'd rather not answer that question," Jacob said.

"Where are you taking me?"

"To a clear path in the forest that will lead you directly home. And I will advise you to never go out with strange boys again."

"_You're_ a strange boy," I teased.

"Yeah, well, I'm saving your life. But if I showed up at your doorstep asking to take you for a joyride, don't trust me either."

"Where'd those two friends of yours go?" I asked, for I noticed that the other boys were no longer with us.

"Oh, Quil and Embry? They have business elsewhere. Hey, it only takes one of us to carry a damsel in distress."

"Ha-ha."

A few minutes later, Jacob stopped. We were in a glen. Trees surrounded us, but there was a small pond in this clear space. A couple of ducks swam of the surface of the pond.

"Okay, here's where we stop, partner," Jacob said. I climbed down, and he pointed in one direction. "Go straight ahead, then turn left when you get to a huge sequoia. You can recognize a sequoia, can't you?"

"Yes," I said. I didn't bother to tell him I knew the tree he meant.

"From there, keep going straight and you should find yourself back in Forks. If necessary, get to a girlfriend's house and have her drive you home. I don't want you running into that boy again."

"I think I can handle it," I said.

"Good, then. Farewell…till you get in trouble again." Jacob saluted me and turned heel afterward, moving at the same inhuman speed he had used to carry me to that spot.

I ambled in the direction he indicated, knowing that once I reached the sequoia, I could find my way home without problems. If I had needed to enter Forks, the only person that came to mind to contact would be Angela, but she usually hung out with that creepy boyfriend of hers, who always had his eye on me during high school.

Reaching the sequoia, I turned right instead of left. Left would take me into town, I'm sure, but going right would lead me directly home, which was my ultimate destination. About fifty yards beyond the tree, though, I heard a howling, and it chilled my heart. I wanted to turn back and head for Forks after all. Even facing Edward Cullen would be better than encountering a wild animal.

But it sounded as though the animal were in pain. As I drew closer, the howling began to sound more like whimpering. And in my head there was a fuzzy buzzing which I took to mean, _Help me. Please…_

I took several tentative steps nearer to the howling animal. First I saw it, hairy and large. By the howls, I guessed it was a wolf, but it happened to be twice as big as any wolf I had ever read about in nonfiction, at least.

When I stood only a few feet from it, I thought that this might be a trick. The wolf might be pretending to be in pain, when in reality it wanted to bite my head off. But I wondered: can animals practice deceit? Cheating, lying, stealing, killing (where not necessary for food)…all these are human traits. If we believed this, as I did, than it is not possible for an animal to be guilty of them.

Comforted by that, I approached the wolf. It stopped howling and looked at me with pleading eyes. Then my gaze fell to its paw. A pine needle was wedged in there,

I grabbed the paw and pulled on the pine needle. The wolf continued to whimper. Nothing happened, no matter what I tried. The pine needle remained stuck.

_It's no good _came the voice in my head, which wasn't my own. _The needle will only come out when…when true love's kiss…_

I was imagining things. I surmised that the voice came from the wolf, but even if I did have the ability to understand what wolves were thinking, why on Earth would true love be involved? And _I _certainly wasn't this wolf's true love, so if that was the only way to help it, I'd just have to leave it there in pain. We weren't even the same species!

I didn't want to leave it. Something drew me to keep trying. There had to be a way to remove the pine needle; there just _had _to!

Using my foot, I attempted to dislodge the pine needle again. When that didn't work, I pressed down on it with my knee. I attempted everything I could think of, but to no avail.

_Thanks for trying, but…until my true love comes…it's not meant to be._

"Stop saying that!" I exclaimed, knowing full well the wolf could not understand me. "I _will _rescue you from this predicament!"

And with that, I put my lips to the pine needle, getting dirt and other nasty stuff I didn't want to think about in my mouth. The pine needle came out, now between my teeth. I spit it on the ground. Then I turned back to the wolf.

It stared at me. I heard the voice saying, _That's…impossible._

"But I did it," I said. "Well, your pain is over now. I'll see you around."

I turned my back to the wolf and headed for home. Yet, even though I was happy to have set the wolf free from its pain, something inside made me miserable. I had no idea what caused me to feel this way, so I attributed it to Mike's ill behavior. I felt Jacob had given me wise advice, not to go out with strange men. But Mike wasn't strange. And if a guy could put on a façade for being nice just to hoodwink his ex-girlfriend into going on a joyride with him, could any guy be trusted at all?

It would take me more than a fortnight to realize that my misery had absolutely nothing to do with Mike.


	4. Chapter 3

**Puppy Love**

**Chapter Three**

For three days I couldn't eat, though not for lack of trying. Charlie brought home some lasagna the night Mike drove me to La Push, and I could only get three bites. A half-hour later I vomited the whole thing.

I wasn't sick. Well, I didn't run a temperature or anything. But nothing I tried eating—chocolate graham crackers, spaghetti and meatballs, Raisin Bran—would stay down.

It felt as though I were bereft of something that I needed. Without this thing, I might die of starvation. But I had no idea what it was.

On the fourth day Charlie took me to the emergency ward at the hospital. A cute doctor in his early thirties gave me an X-ray. His name was Carlisle. I was pleased to be examined by him, until I heard a nurse call him, "Dr. Cullen."

Dr. Cullen? Was he the Edward creep's father? He had to be, didn't he? After all, Cullen wasn't a common name, and Forks was a small town.

"Mr. Swan," the cute doctor said to Charlie, "your daughter is not suffering from any physical ailment. Rather, it is a malady for which no medicinal cure exists."

"Is it serious?" Charlie asked, worried.

"Depends on what you mean by 'serious.' You see, your daughter is ill from lack of love."

"What? I give her plenty of love."

"Not the kind of love a father can provide, but the love which only a lover can deliver. Tell me dear," Dr. Cullen said, turning to me, "do you have a boyfriend?"

"I broke up with my last one months ago," I said, while thinking that if Dr. Cullen suggested I date Edward, I would slap him hard across the face.

"Well, I'm afraid that until someone enters your life who you truly care about romantically, you won't be eating normally for a while."

"So is my daughter supposed to starve to death?

"No, Mr. Swan. There is one thing she can eat which her body will consume. Valentine's chocolates."

"But…those aren't available in stores yet! It's out of season!" Charlie exclaimed.

"Ah, but luckily for you, my wife Esme buys a large quantity each year to meet just such an eventuality."

"Okay," Charlie said. "But won't they be expired by now?"

"Whitman's chocolate can go three years without expiring," said Dr. Cullen.

"Okay, one more concern: health. Won't she get more sick by eating so much chocolate and nothing nutritive?"

"Better she's ill than dead, I say. The important thing is that she finds someone she really cares about. If she can do that, then she'll be eating properly again."

"But if she gets sick from eating chocolates, how is she supposed to meet anybody?"

"It is not my area of expertise to answer that question, Mr. Swan. I only know how to diagnose the love illness, not to cure it. Though I might suggest you send her boy-hunting every day until she's snagged a boyfriend. That way this will be over sooner rather than later."

"Okay, when I can pick up the chocolates?"

"Esme will have them ready by five o' clock tonight. Of course, I could have my daughter deliver them, if you wish."

"Well, it would save me gas money," Charlie said. Both he and Dr. Cullen laughed.

At five that evening, the doorbell rang, and I went to answer it. It was raining outside, as usual. The day Mike had driven me to La Push and Jacob Black saved me, was a rare sight in Forks, with no rain whatsoever. Well, I guess it's more accurate to say it rains sixty percent of the time here. Then again, I'm no meteorologist, and I only know that rain is common here.

I looked through the peephole and saw a petite girl there whom I knew to be Edward's sister, for she had the same marble skin as he. If it had been a boy standing there, and especially Edward, I would've called Charlie to answer it. But since it was just a girl, I flung the door open.

She entered without being invited, placing a large bag on the kitchen table. I looked at her. She had not changed a bit since the first time I laid eyes on her, two years ago. This was eerie. Surely she'd be older in appearance now?

"How old are you?" I asked her.

"It's rude to ask a woman her age," she said..

"Have you ever perambulated in pluvial weather without the unnecessary encumbrance of a bumbershoot?"

"Huh?"

"Never mind," I said. I turned my gaze to the bag on the table. "So that's the chocolates?"

"Enough to last you a week," the girl said. "Hopefully by that time, you'll be cured."

"Hmmm," I said. "Look, I know you from school, but I don't know your name. You were a class below mine."

"I'm Alice Cullen," said the girl, extending her hand. I shook it. The hand felt cold. "My father has only ever diagnosed one person with love illness before. Let me tell you that what you have is serious."

"Don't I know it," I said. "Only being able to consume chocolates, I tell you…this seems so absurd."

"There's nothing absurd about true love," Alice said, stonily.

"True love?" I scoffed. "I'm only nineteen!"

"Listen to me, Bella. Yes, I know your name. Edward talks about you all the time. This illness you have…it's rare. It only comes when you're separated from your true love. You must have already met this person."

"Impossible! I would know if I had met—"

"You may not know it. Your heart does, but it's possible you don't."

I swooned, nearly collapsing to the floor..

"Oh, I nearly forgot," Alice said. "You haven't eaten in days. Please, open a box of chocolates." She pulled a box out and handed it to me.

I opened it and grabbed one. It was filled with coconut, and I ran to the trash can to spit it out. I took another, and this time it was caramel. That one I swallowed with indecent haste.

Except for the coconut one, I ate them all. And I didn't feel like throwing up!

"I'm sorry I didn't offer you one," I said, turning back to Alice.

"It's okay. I can't eat chocolates."

"Do you break out in hives?" I teased.

"Something like that," Alice said.

"So you were saying some nonsense about true love?"

"Oh, yes, that. You must've already met him. Or her."

"_Her?" _I said, outraged. "I'm not a lesbian!"

"And can you prove that?"

"I've had three boyfriends, and kissing them has never felt awkward."

"That doesn't mean you're not a lesbian. Not that I'm saying you are, just that you could have a true love that is a girl."

"Next you'll say my grandmother was a teapot," I said.

"If she did a voice for _Beauty and the Beast, _then she might've been."

"Do you ever say anything comforting?"

"No," Alice said. She paused, as if there was something else she wanted to say. "Well, cheerio, darling. Cheerio." She was out the door.

After eating another box of chocolates, I ran upstairs and grabbed my diary. I wrote in it: "ALICE CULLEN IS INSANE!"

To think that my true love could have mammary glands! Inconceivable! At that moment I wanted to receive the Heterosexual of the Year Award, if it meant I had to kiss every boy my age in Forks, La Push, and Seattle. Even Mike Newman and Edward Cullen. I had to _prove _that I was straight. Being anything else was repugnant.

In order to calm myself, I put _The Wedding Planner _in the DVD player. There's a film with no lesbians whatsoever. Nothing to remind me of the revolting suggestion Alice had made.

When _The Wedding Planner _ended, Charlie went out to get some Chinese. He didn't watch the film with me, for he despised romantic comedies. And after a while I remembered that Alice had said that a boy might be my true love after all. She didn't meant anything by claiming that a female could be my lover. But it still gave me the shivers when I thought about it.

The one good thing about it was that Alice hadn't insinuated that she herself could be the one I must love. In fact, if Alice had explained it to me correctly, she wasn't even in the running. It was someone I already met, since before the illness. The last day I had not been sick was the day Mike took me to La Push.

Is it possible I was with my true love that day? I was sure it wasn't Mike, and the only other people I was with were Jacob and his friends. So did that mean I loved _Jacob?_

But I barely knew him! His name, yeah. What he looked like, yeah. But nothing else at all. How could a girl love someone she knew nothing about?

When Charlie returned from the restaurant, he asked if I wanted some Chinese.

"If I did, I couldn't eat it," I said, miserably.

"Oh yeah, that's right. Sorry, Bella, but tomorrow I'm going to implore you to go man-hunting. You've got to get over this as soon as possible."

"But Charlie…" I started to say.

"Bella, I want you eating healthy food. A diet that consists solely of Valentine's chocolates is not healthy. Now, go upstairs and plan how to catch a guy before going to bed."

I couldn't tell him about my fears concerning Mike Newman. I had half an inclination to ask him to put Mike in jail until I found a boyfriend. Of course, Charlie would never agree to anything so silly. Furthermore, I didn't want to tell him about what Mike had attempted to do to me. So I kept mum and went to bed.

"


	5. Chapter 4

**Puppy Love**

**Chapter Four**

The next day, Charlie sent me out boyfriend-hunting. I thought it an awful idea, but he didn't want me dependent on Valentine's chocolates for sustenance forever.

So I drove around in my old Ford truck. I think it was first made in 1973, which is all very well and good, but I prefer newer vehicles. Especially the Aptera…that one is a kicker. Of course, I'd never be able to afford it, unless I became a doctor or lawyer…someone whose profession attracts people simply for the amount of moolah they can garner. But such petty things are not on my agenda.

I parked my truck somewhere between Forks High and Evault's Grocery. My best bet was to hope one of the high school seniors would notice me, since they'd only be a few months younger than I am. Of course, school wasn't in session, since it was already December twentieth. But I thought I'd start from there and move on.

The idea of boyfriend-hunting did, in fact, seem puerile and bathetic to me. Well, maybe not _quite _approaching bathos…more like, maudlin. Perhaps "silly and frivolous" would be a more accurate description of how I felt that day.

Be that as it may, I walked into Evault's Grocery. Who knew? I might see a boy shopping for his family...though if I ran into Mike Newman, I would wish I could sprout wings and fly.

I did not see Mike. But when I reached the cereal aisle, I bumped into a cart.

"Watch where you're going!" the person behind the cart shouted. I looked up and saw Angela. (I had been watching the ground, hoping a boyfriend would pop up from there."

"Oh, Bella," Angela said in coyingly sweet tones. "I'm sorry for yelling at you. But what are you doing here? You don't even have a basket in your hands."

"I just came to get a couple of boxes of Ritz crackers," I lied, quickly.

She was eyeing me, curiously. "I don't think that's your real reason for being here," she said.

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, for one thing, the snack aisle with the crackers in it is that way," she said, pointing in the direction I just came. "And for another, your pupils are huge."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I learned about it in Anatomy and Physiology at the U," Angela said. "If your pupils are large, you're in love."

"If I'm in love, I don't know who it is," I said. Angela shrugged, and I my eyes went downward, where I noticed that in her cart was a cauldron like those featured in the Harry Potter movies. "It's a little late for Halloween, you know."

"Oh, this isn't for Halloween," Angela said, smiling sweetly.

"Let me guess. You're planning to audition for a new TV show starring a witch."

"I don't have to audition," Angela said. And with that cryptic note, she scooted her cart away from me.

I wondered what that meant. _I don't need to audition. _Did she already have the part? And where would they film it? Certainly not here in Forks. Nothing ever happens in Forks that is worth noting.

Pondering thus, I walked into the frozen foods section, and there, standing twenty feet away, was a really handsome boy. He looked like a teenage Johnny Depp. He turned around, walked toward me, and smiled.

"Excuse me, I'm Perry Foxtrot," he said. "Senior at Forks High."

"Bella Swan. Graduated last June."

"You look like a swan."

My heart melted. I wanted Perry to put his arm around me, but I wasn't going to ask him to.

"Hey, I got tickets to see _Rugrats on Ice, _in Seattle on Saturday. Want to come?"

"Sure. I'll have to ask Charlie. My father. But I'm sure he'll say yes."

"Great." We exchanged phone numbers and said goodbye.

I considered that to be a triumph, and so I left the store and hopped into my truck. Just as I was leaving the parking lot, however, Mike Newman pulled up in a new vehicle. It was a white Sedan, but I could see him in the driver's seat. And after I started heading for home, I realized that Mike was following me.

There had to be a way to lose him. I kept on going, hoping that he would turn around or something. But he didn't.

Finally, I parked my truck on the edge of the forest, jumped out and ran through the trees. I could hear Mike stopping and getting out of his own vehicle. He would chase me on foot!

I ran in a serpentine manner, trying to get Mike off my tail. At one point, I thought I had lost him. But a few minutes later, I heard him give a savage cry. He grabbed my wrists and dragged me to the ground, He was pulling my pants down…I was going to be raped!

Then a howl come from somewhere near us. Mike screamed. Something was pulling him off me, but I couldn't yet see what. After a moment, however, I caught a glimpse of fur. It was a wolf.

"It's biting me!" Mike shouted. He struggled to stand up, and finally did so, blood pouring from his leg to the ground. "Bella, come on. Let's go."

The wolf snarled at him and made a snap at his legs. He took off running, back toward his vehicle.

I feared that the wolf would turn on me next, make me its next supper. But it came up and licked me on the cheek, just like a domestic dog. "I wonder if I know you," I said to it.

_You saved me from a great deal of pain, _rang a voice in my head that wasn't my own.

Was it really the wolf, or was I imagining things? Yet, hadn't I heard something like this when I had pulled the pine needle out of this wolf's paw? Maybe it could communicate…

"Are you a boy or a girl?"

_Girl. Even more than you know._

The last part confused me. "So, you're a she?"

_And you can understand me._

"Shouldn't I be able to?"

_Most humans can't. But then, you're certainly not the average human._

"Thanks, I think," I said. I patted the wolf on the head. "What's your name?"

_Leah. And I know yours is Bella. _

My jaw dropped. "How?"

_It is not time for you to know that yet, sweetheart. Oh gosh, I've got to run._

The wolf gave me one last look, then turned tail. I watched her go, my heart longing for something, but I didn't know what.

When I reached my truck an hour later, I was surprised Mike hadn't rammed into the back of it on purpose, for not coming back with him. But maybe he figured Charlie would jump to conclusions and assume I had been killed by Mike, when actually the wolf consumed my body. But the wolf hasn't consumed my body, as Mike probably believed. He'd be shocked to see me a few days hence.

When I arrived home, I took some leftover chicken spaghetti out of the fridge and heated it up. I was still eating it when Charlie came home.

"Bella! You're eating normal food again! Good. So I guess you met a boy?"

"Yes. His name is Perry Foxtrot, and he invited me to see _Rugrats on Ice _in Seattle this weekend." I wasn't going to mention Mike Newman's chase.

"That's great. Well, I'm so glad you don't have to worry about eating chocolates anymore."

But Charlie was wrong. The next morning, I was unable to swallow my breakfast of pancakes and sausage. Even worse, I had run out of chocolates. Charlie had to call the Cullens to have some more delivered.

Five hours later, when I was starving like mad, there was a knock on the door. I opened it without looking in the people first. On the doorstep were Angela Strottinger and Edward Cullen.


	6. Chapter 5

**Puppy Love**

**Chapter Five**

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Chocolates," Edward said in a mellifluous voice, holding up a bag of chocolates.

"I expected, um…you know, Alice."

"She couldn't make it today," said Edward.

I let them in, reluctantly. Still, they weren't axe-murderers, so I had no idea what I was worried about.

Angela's eye seem to rove all over the kitchen, as if she were memorizing every detail for recall later.

"Um, please don't mind…I haven't eaten since last night," I said, pulling out a box of chocolates and throwing first a cherry-centered and then a purely milk chocolate one into my mouth.

"You ate last night, then?" Angela asked.

"Yes, some spaghetti."

"So you saw the person you're in love with, but after separating again, your heart broke and the only thing left for you to eat is Valentne's chocolates, as before," said Angela.

"Oh, come on, that's silly," I said.

"But it's the only thing that fits," Edward said.

That got my mind going. Who had I seen yesterday? Only Perry Foxtrot, whom I had never met before, and Mike Newman. So, was I in love with Mike? That would be impossible, though. I couldn't be in love with someone who wanted to rape me! It was too gross.

Then a thought came to me. I had run into one other person that day: Angela. Alice had stated that my one true love could be female. But seriously, why would my heart go for Angela? I barely knew her, and she always seemed on the shifty side to me.

However, if all the theories that had been presented to me by Dr. Cullen and Alice were true, and if Angela were the love of my life, then I would be able to eat normally very soon. Until some hours after she disappeared, though. Well, at least I could experiment, once Edward and she left.

Edward asked me something, and I answered, but I was imagining what it would be like to kiss Angela, if she turned out to be the love of my life. It wasn't a happy thought, but if it happened, I decided, it happened.

Finally, Angela said it was time to go. As they left, Edward gave me a longing look, as if he would like nothing better than to kiss me himself. I wonder if he would pound me into a pulp instead if he knew I was thinking about his girlfriend as a lover.

When they had gone, I took some Jello from the fridge and had a couple of bites. Twenty minutes later, I vomited it in the bathroom.

Nope, I decided. Angela wasn't the love of my life. So who _was?_

I had a dream that Angela was chasing me across a lake. She was flying; I in a boat. And she gained on me, pulled me down, and kissed me full on the lips.

I woke up from that, not sure how I felt. I _hoped _that it wasn't a girl that I liked, and I had reason to doubt it was, for no girl had ever turned me on. But it would be worse if the person I truly wanted turned out to be Mike Newman.

On the following Saturday, I drove out to Seattle and met Perry at the place where _Rugrats on Ice _would be performed. He looked cute, but I still had the sinking feeling that he wasn't my true love. They were selling popsicles at the show, and Perry offered to buy me one, but I told him no thanks, because I knew it wouldn't go down.

After the show, Perry offered to accompany me in my truck, but I told him no. He kissed me lightly on my forehead, which I was glad of since I didn't feel like locking lips with him.

When I got home, Charlie was waiting. "Any luck?" he asked.

I thought of lying, but I heard myself say, "No."

"Bella…you need a boyfriend. I want you to get over this."

"I want to get over it too, but I think it's someone else. Thanks don't happen instantly, you know."

"I know," Charlie said, sighing. "Just go eat your chocolates. Tomorrow you're going to try again."

When he said that, I wished I had gone to Phoenix for the winter with my mother. There I would not have to deal with a constant worrywart. This might not even have happened if I had chosen Renee over Charlie to spend Christmas vacation with…

I trudged up the stairs After eating three chocolates, I felt like I didn't want to eat anymore. It just seemed so odd…where was the person who would be my true love? _Who _was it? Would I be happy with them?

I pondered this for a few minutes, until I heard Charlie calling, "Bella, there's someone here to see you."

_Who could that be? _I wondered. Putting my red cardigan on, I went down the stairs, hoping that it wasn't Mike Newman.

Next to Charlie stood a Native American girl, drenched from all the rain outside. My heart leapt when I saw her, though I didn't know why.

"I'm Leah Clearwater," the girl said, when I was five feet away from her. (Charlie disappeared into the living room.)

"Should I know you?" I asked.

"Not in this form," Leah said. "Do you think we could…go to your room?"

"Sure!" I said, a little too brightly and expecting Leah to raise an eyebrow. She didn't.

I led the way upstairs and into my room. Leah shut the door behind her.

"You're not plotting to murder me or anything?" I said, my voice shaky.

"No, why would you think that?"

Not saying anything, I fixed my gaze on the door.

"Oh…well, I wanted to show you who I am. And uh…why I came here."

"You mean you're not a Native American girl? What are you, a Martian planning to take over the world?"

"Wrong guess, Bella."

_How does she know my name? _I thought._ And how does she know where I live? Unless…_ "Are you friends with Jacob Black?"

"I guess you could say that. Well, I know him well, would be a better way to phrase it. But now I think it's time for me to transform."

"Trans_form?" _I asked.

"You know, change shape, looks, etc. Oh yeah, Bella, I need you to swallow this." Leah handed me a round chew that looked like a Tylenol tablet, with the letters "AS" written across it.

I stared at the chew.

"It's not poison," Leah said, attempting to assure me.

"I, er…can't swallow anything," I said.

"I know about your problem," Leah said. "But don't worry…the tablet is chocolate-flavored, and I'm sure you'll be able to swallow it."

Somehow, her words gave me the strength to do it. I did not even think _why _I was doing it; I just did it because this girl told me to.

A minute passed. Then Leah said, "Watch me."

I knew that I would watch her forever, watch her till she died, if she told me to. She held a power over me that I could not escape.

I watched as her legs became hairy and her fingernails turned into sharp claws. I watched as her face became elongated, and her mouth and nose were replaced by a snout. I watched as she bent foreward to stand on four legs, instead of two. I watched her clothes disappear into nothingness. I watched a girl transmogrify into a wolf in front of my very eyes.

I tried to scream, but no sound would come from my throat. I waited for the girl-wolf to kill me.


	7. Chapter 6

**Puppy Love**

**Chapter Six**

I fainted dead away. A few minutes later, I felt a tongue brush my check, and I came to. Looking at the wolf, my senses returned to me. "You," I said.

_Me, _I felt the now-familiar voice saying in my head.

"But you're a…."

_Werewolf, yeah._

"I don't get it," I said. "It's not a full moon tonight."

_That full moon business is a myth. Real werewolves can transform at any time they wish._

"I see." I petted her on the forehead. "You must admit, this is freaky."

_Which part of it is freaky?_

"Well, I think…" I started to say. But the words wouldn't come out. Leah would surely hate me forever if I told her I thought I had a crush on her. And I couldn't bear that.

_You think you're in love with me?_

"What?" I asked, looking in the wolf's eyes.

She began changing back. As soon as she returned to her human form, she said, "I'm in love with you, Bella Swan. I know this may seem strange. Jacob has told me that you have dated boys, so I told myself to forget about you. But it didn't work. We're meant for each other. Your ability to pull the pine needle out of my paw proved that."

I did not know what to say. On the one hand, I wanted to grab her and kiss her and rub my hands through her hair…or fur when she was in wolf form. But on the other hand, I wanted to scream that there was no way she was my lover, that I didn't want to be a lesbian, that even apart from being in love with a girl, how could I be in love with a werewolf girl? I wanted to tell her she was crazy and banish her from my room.

I think the chocolate chew she had given me prevented me from doing the latter. Instead, I let her walk up to me and trace her fingers across my neck. Then she sat in my lap and put her lips to mine. She kissed like mad, and I kissed her back, hard, and this was probably also influenced by the chew. In my head ran the chant: _I love this girl, I love this girl, I LOVE THIS GIRL!_

Taking her precious lips from mine, she said, "So, do you think we could be an item?"

I nodded, still speechless.

"Perhaps we should go on a date," she suggested. "So we could get to know each other better. And if you're worried about people seeing us, no one will think anything of two girls having dinner. People have the tendency to assume that girls having meals together just means that they're great friends."

I liked the way Leah thought regarding this issue.

"Well, I have to go do something for my clan," Leah said, getting off my lap. The loss of her body heat made me feel like I had been plunked down into a well. "I'll be sure to contact you with a time and venue for our date."

"Don't go," I finally managed to croak out, as she went towards the door.

She turned back to me. "Oh, Bella, I know it's hard for you to part from me when we just got acquainted, as it is hard for me to leave you. But we've got to go about our normal lives, so that people don't get suspicious. You understand that, right?"

"I guess," I said, though there was pain in my voice.

Leah rushed at me and gave me a huge hug. It felt so good, and I hoped it would never end. But alas, it did.

"It will be okay, Bella, dear," she whispered. "Don't worry."

Then she left me.


End file.
